What I've been reading: Books No. 7-8

Book No. 7 was "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot" by John Callahan. I've had this on my "to read" list for 3 or 4 years and finally just got around to reading it, and now I hear that a biopic based on the book and on Callahan's life is coming out in May. Callahan was a high-spirited burgeoning alcoholic as a young man and ended up paralyzed in a car accident while his drinking companion was driving drunk. Subsequently, you think he'd get cleaned up after becoming a quadriplegic, but he managed to keep drinking for a while afterward, finally committing to a 12-step program and getting sober a few years after the accident. During his recovery, he begins turning what used to be a hobby of drawing cartoons into a career. He also comes to terms with the fact that he is adopted and never felt like he belonged, and that is part of what drove him to become a teenage alcoholic. He battles the welfare system that he relies on, begins to make a living with his drawing, and begins the search for his birth parents. In many ways, this type of memoir is right up my alley, but Callahan is, frankly, kind of an asshole. He's one of those charming and funny assholes, so he gets by, but still. He enjoys the fact that his cartoons aren't P.C., like the one that gives the book it's title (which you can see here). I'm actually okay with him making cripple jokes, since he's making them at his own expense. I find some of his gendered and race-based humor to be less funny, but I'm probably not Callahan's target audience. I'd recommend this book but do be aware that there are many, many homophobic, sexist and racist jokes in it, and it's not for the easily offended.

Book No. 8 was "The Tresspasser" by Tana French, the most recent in her Dublin Murder Squad novels, as an audibook. I really love this series and think the structure is quite neat. A minor character in the first book becomes a viewpoint character in the second, and a support character in the second becomes the main viewpoint character in the third, and so on. In the fifth book, Stephen Moran is the viewpoint character who wants to get into the Murder Squad and does so through helping Antoinette Conway with a case. The sixth book is from Conway's viewpoint, and she's having a rough time in the Murder Squad. She has started off on the wrong foot by breaking the finger of a fellow detective who sexually harassed her, and now people are playing pranks on her, including "losing" some of her important paperwork for her. She feels alienated from her workmates, knows she's on the edge of burnout and is considering leaving the squad when an unpromising domestic violence case gets handed to her and Moran. The case ends up being much more complicated than they ever expected, and Conway's own past comes back to haunt her during the investigation. I don't want to give an spoilers, but I consider this one of the best in the series. I think the first, "In the Woods," was the best, and this one and "Broken Harbour" probably tie for my #2 spot in the series. I have no idea where she's going to take it from here, though, because none of the minor characters seemed ripe for making them a main character in #7, if she does plan to write another of these. It's not necessary to read these in order, but I do recommend it, as they build on each other. Knowing what Conway and Moran went through in Book #5 definitely informs the way you'd read #6, for instance. I ADORE this series, even if I feel some entries were weaker than others. And, speaking of adaptations, it looks like the first two books are being adapted into a BBC TV series.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )